Is China being buried under the weight of environment concerns?
1. From economic threat to environmental threat
Today, when people talk about China, they often say, “this country will overtake the world” due to its fast economic growth. In fact, China has been described by much of the western media as an economic threat. Moreover, over the last few years, China has also been regarded as a threat to the global environment due to its swift industrial development.
China’s official figures indicate that the country is likely to overtake the United States by 2008 as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
In 2001, China's total greenhouse gas emissions were less than half (42 percent) of the U.S. level. But by 2006 the figure had risen to 97 percent.
It is clear that China faces a serious problem with pollution.
Here are just some statistics:
Of the 10 most polluted cities in the world, half are in China.
Seventy percent of rivers in China have been polluted at various levels.
At least 25% of the Chinese population have no access to clean drinking water.
One-third of the land in China is threatened by soil erosion
Less than 20% of rubbish in China is being treated with any consideration to the environment.
Every two days, a pollution accident happens in China.
China is perceived as ignoring environmental concerns in its effort to build its economy. Natural resources such as coal, oil, water and timber are being utilized at an alarmingly high rate to fuel China’s rapid development.
These raw materials are not only produced domestically. China also imports from many other countries.
Africa provides 30% of China’s oil imports and the continent as a whole accounted for more than $55 billion in bilateral trade last year. This has brought criticism and a sense of unease amongst many western nations. China is seen as over exploiting the natural resources of the African continent, while overlooking the environmental impact.
China is now under international and domestic pressure to transform its development model, to keep growing economically while reducing the impact on the environment.
Meanwhile, the country has started to recognize that continuing this unsustainable model of development is simply not viable.
2. China’s long march to go green.
So, what is the best solution to help China develop in the right direction? We first need to understand the country’s mindset, its history and culture. China has only recently entered the world stage, and so, for most westerners there is a lack of knowledge of both the country and its people.
It’s not all chopsticks, chow mein and Peking duck. The Chinese people are vastly different from province to province.
And there is not a common set of ideas that link them all. Ideas that the West takes for granted are as bizarre to the Chinese people as fish and chips.
Since 1978, China has been pursuing a policy with the focus set on economic growth. Similar to the Industrial Revolution 200 years ago in the West, China’s development gives priority to GDP growth rather than pollution control. The west took nearly 200 years to bring in laws to cut the pollution resulting from the Industrial Revolution.
In the UK, for example, the Clean Air Act was only introduced in 1956. In contrast, China has been quick to realize the need to tackle environmental issues.
Within thirty years of economic development China has implemented initiatives to protect the environment. One specific policy is the current Five Year Plan which aims to cut pollution by 10% by 2010.
It’s not so long ago that ‘pea-soupers’ covered London. Captured in films like Oliver Twist and A Tale of Two Cities, these images of dense fog are how Chinese people see London. But China is now beginning to suffer from the same problems faced by Britain less than half a century ago.
The West appears to have a short memory when it comes to criticizing others. There is also an element of hypocrisy when it comes to blaming China for polluting the world. Developed countries should also take responsibility for reducing their own emissions.
China must find solutions to the environmental problems it faces. But it cannot achieve this alone. Criticism of China’s environmental destruction MUST be countered by support and viable options to help China through this difficult period of development.
3. China faces many challenges as it makes its way along the green road.
a. Poor understanding of nature
In China there is a low public awareness with regards to environmental protection. For example, there is little concept of recycling within the minds of many Chinese. In China, when people dispose of their rubbish, few think about where it goes or about its environmental impact.
However, this is beginning to change, with cities like Shanghai rolling out massive recycling schemes. Segregated litterbins have been used increasingly in China to separate recyclable and non-recyclable rubbish.
There are differences in culture, education, and even the understanding of nature. Like all of us, people in China like to live in a clean environment, with clean air and water. But it will take time to motivate the people to become more green.
Poor environmental laws and inefficient administrative mechanisms fail to protect the environment and do not do enough to discourage polluters in the face of increases in GDP.
b. Restraints by limited resources
China accounts for more than one-fifth of the world’s population, but its GDP is 13% of the world total. The country’s further economic development is inevitable. But China’s shortage of resources is restraining its growth.
Here I’d like to focus on water and energy supply in China.
There is a shortage of both. But water supply and water pollution are of greatest concern.
a) Half of the water in China’s seven largest rivers is completely useless. About 400 out of 600 cities in China are short of water.
China is cooperating with bordering countries in developing joint hydro-electric projects. However disagreements persist between China and countries such as India and Kazakhstan over the exploitation of shared water resources.
b) Poor energy structure / Three Gorges Dam.
In 2006 China’s GDP rose by 10.7 percent, with energy consumption rising 9.3%.
China is the world’s largest coal producer and consumer. And coal accounts for 70% of the country’s energy consumption. The country is in dire need of improving its energy structure, but it may take a long time to achieve.
China has been encouraged to seek alternative energy sources to replace coal and to reduce coal’s share in the energy mix to 40% by 2030.
The country has set a target of increasing the use of renewable energy to 10% of energy consumption by 2010, and up to 15% by 2020, from 3 percent in 2003.
It is estimated that by 2050, solar energy will account for 10% of electricity generated in China.
Hydro-electricity will be a priority for a green China. So far, China has only developed one-third of its water resources for generating electricity, less than half the proportion of developed countries.
But these developments also draw strong criticism from the West. The Three Gorges Project, the world’s largest hydro-electric installation, has been heavily criticized by the western media for its ecological impact. Only recently, the Chinese press highlighted government concerns with the ecological impact the dam poses..
So the country is at the crossroads between balancing the demand for development and ecological protection.
4. Negative impacts of globalization.
Globalization is part of the reason for China’s worsening environment.
“Made-in-China” is now a commonplace. My British family members are always very excited whenever they come across an old product with the tag “Made-in-England”.
But whilst China is proud of being a world factory there is now increased concern that the “Made in China” label brings not only economic strength, but also damage to China’s ecology.
China has risen to the 3rd largest trading country in the world.
In 2006, China’s involvement in the processing of imported raw materials accounted for nearly half of China’s import and export total. This 2006 figure is more than 300 times the level in 1981.
Cheap labour and resources are often mentioned as factors in attracting overseas investment. But if China were to impose the same high standards of environmental protection, then many foreign companies might find that it was not cost effective to invest in China. In other words, Western countries are taking advantage of a lack of strict environmental laws.
Today, over 70% of overseas investment in China is involved in the manufacturing industry.
This year, about 100 overseas-funded companies have been blacklisted for their poor environment record. They include the big companies like Pepsi, Nestle, General Motors and Carlsberg.
Facts have shown that in areas where foreign companies are located -- cities like Shanghai, and especially Guangdong Province -- air and water pollution has significantly increased.
Former Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing once said that pollution in China was partly due to international economic and trade divisions in the country. China remains one of the developing countries most affected by climate change.
Huguette Labelle, former president of the Canadian International Development Agency, once said that under the current international economic and trade system, China is not only the biggest user of resources but also the largest victim of self-inflicted pollution.
In order to reduce the number of companies using China as a dumping ground for pollution-creating industries, stricter policies are being considered, which would impose higher taxes and tariffs on exports of high-energy-consuming and pollution-causing items.
China imports a large amount of waste, including solid, electronic and medical waste. And the quantities increase annually. Processing these imports is creating a devastating effect on people’s health as well the environment as a whole.
China is only able to deal with 20% of its own waste, so for the country to take on the rest of the world’s garbage severely exacerbates the problem.
By 2020, China’s ‘fast-speed urbanization’ will increase its annual waste to more than 400 million tonnes.
China may soon be submerged by a mountain of its own rubbish.
Earlier this year, both British and Chinese media reported on UK rubbish exports to China. It shows a typical case of the environment-unfriendly side of world trade.
The UK produces more than 30 million tonnes of recyclable rubbish every year, 6% of which is shipped to China.
As such, China is rapidly becoming Britain's biggest rubbish dump.
Annually, China’s exports to the UK total £16 billion pounds.
In return, the UK ships 1.9 million tonnes of waste to China, up more than 160 times the figure of eight years ago.
The UK’s former Environment Minister Ben Bradshaw, has defended this “fair” trade, saying that it would be wasteful for ships bringing imports from China to return empty.
It is not good to our environment when we can only choose from imported products in our supermarkets. It is astonishing to see items shipped half way around the globe when they could be produced domestically.
UK-based New Economics Foundation Policy Director Andrew Simms told BBC last Friday (Oct. 5, 2007) that "Every time we hear a government minister talking about climate change, they seem to be drawn towards scapegoating China and its rising emissions."
He said: "But a big factor in that rise is that China has become the major factory for the western world, so their greenhouse gas emissions are largely driven by higher levels of consumption in the west."
Two years ago, US researchers calculated that 14% of China's CO2 emissions were accounted for by exports to the US.
So besides domestic will, a rational global economic and trade system should be formed to optimize the use of our natural resources and make it possible for global sustainable development.
5. Climate change is a global crisis, calling for a global solution.
Today, we should not doubt about global warming anymore. The evidence is clear that the global climate is changing. This year, we have seen millions of people in China, India and Bangladesh affected by floods. In Kenya we have seen major mudslides brought about by torrential rain.
We have also seen the worst summer for 30 years in France, devastating floods in the UK, a heat wave in the US (with temperatures soaring above 30 degrees Celsius), and typhoons sweeping Mexico and southeast Asia.
All these events have sent a signal that climate change is already at our doorstep. It is no longer something which may happen in the future, the effects of climate change are already being felt.
The tit-for-tat argument between developed and developing nations about who should take the lead to cut emissions has got to stop.
All countries, rich or poor, have to make their own changes towards a more sustainable society.
The West must lead by example to show the world how to tackle environmental issues.
UK Conservative leader David Cameron addressed the party's 2007 conference last week (Oct. 3) and said that those who say Britain should do nothing because of China’s shortcomings were wrong. He asked, “How will we be able to encourage China to act unless we act here at home?
The Chinese Government has maintained that all countries must take actions, with different but fair share of responsibilities to tackle global warming. Developing countries need to cut emissions and increase energy efficiency, while developed countries should try to decrease their per capita energy consumption and individual carbon footprint.
6. Conclusion:
The economic status among the population of China is changing rapidly. This has resulted in the increase of cars on China’s roads, rising consumption of consumer products and the surge of domestic flights. Meanwhile as China opens up to the world, it has led to a huge influx of tourists from all over the world.
We are not going to change people’s demand for cars, a wish to travel, and a desire to consume. And our living standards need not be lowered in order to be respectful to the earth.
However, it is the responsibility of governments, businesses and individuals to safeguard this planet.
Governments have the most important role to play in this regard, to change production methods and energy generation to more environmental-friendly solutions, and implement greener policies.
As individuals, we should be aware of our carbon footprints. We need to reduce our consumption, move towards a greener lifestyle and increase our responsibility towards our surroundings.
Copyright Dongying Wang 2007
For reproduction of this study, please email: wdy21century@gmail.com
1. From economic threat to environmental threat
Today, when people talk about China, they often say, “this country will overtake the world” due to its fast economic growth. In fact, China has been described by much of the western media as an economic threat. Moreover, over the last few years, China has also been regarded as a threat to the global environment due to its swift industrial development.
China’s official figures indicate that the country is likely to overtake the United States by 2008 as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
In 2001, China's total greenhouse gas emissions were less than half (42 percent) of the U.S. level. But by 2006 the figure had risen to 97 percent.
It is clear that China faces a serious problem with pollution.
Here are just some statistics:
Of the 10 most polluted cities in the world, half are in China.
Seventy percent of rivers in China have been polluted at various levels.
At least 25% of the Chinese population have no access to clean drinking water.
One-third of the land in China is threatened by soil erosion
Less than 20% of rubbish in China is being treated with any consideration to the environment.
Every two days, a pollution accident happens in China.
China is perceived as ignoring environmental concerns in its effort to build its economy. Natural resources such as coal, oil, water and timber are being utilized at an alarmingly high rate to fuel China’s rapid development.
These raw materials are not only produced domestically. China also imports from many other countries.
Africa provides 30% of China’s oil imports and the continent as a whole accounted for more than $55 billion in bilateral trade last year. This has brought criticism and a sense of unease amongst many western nations. China is seen as over exploiting the natural resources of the African continent, while overlooking the environmental impact.
China is now under international and domestic pressure to transform its development model, to keep growing economically while reducing the impact on the environment.
Meanwhile, the country has started to recognize that continuing this unsustainable model of development is simply not viable.
2. China’s long march to go green.
So, what is the best solution to help China develop in the right direction? We first need to understand the country’s mindset, its history and culture. China has only recently entered the world stage, and so, for most westerners there is a lack of knowledge of both the country and its people.
It’s not all chopsticks, chow mein and Peking duck. The Chinese people are vastly different from province to province.
And there is not a common set of ideas that link them all. Ideas that the West takes for granted are as bizarre to the Chinese people as fish and chips.
Since 1978, China has been pursuing a policy with the focus set on economic growth. Similar to the Industrial Revolution 200 years ago in the West, China’s development gives priority to GDP growth rather than pollution control. The west took nearly 200 years to bring in laws to cut the pollution resulting from the Industrial Revolution.
In the UK, for example, the Clean Air Act was only introduced in 1956. In contrast, China has been quick to realize the need to tackle environmental issues.
Within thirty years of economic development China has implemented initiatives to protect the environment. One specific policy is the current Five Year Plan which aims to cut pollution by 10% by 2010.
It’s not so long ago that ‘pea-soupers’ covered London. Captured in films like Oliver Twist and A Tale of Two Cities, these images of dense fog are how Chinese people see London. But China is now beginning to suffer from the same problems faced by Britain less than half a century ago.
The West appears to have a short memory when it comes to criticizing others. There is also an element of hypocrisy when it comes to blaming China for polluting the world. Developed countries should also take responsibility for reducing their own emissions.
China must find solutions to the environmental problems it faces. But it cannot achieve this alone. Criticism of China’s environmental destruction MUST be countered by support and viable options to help China through this difficult period of development.
3. China faces many challenges as it makes its way along the green road.
a. Poor understanding of nature
In China there is a low public awareness with regards to environmental protection. For example, there is little concept of recycling within the minds of many Chinese. In China, when people dispose of their rubbish, few think about where it goes or about its environmental impact.
However, this is beginning to change, with cities like Shanghai rolling out massive recycling schemes. Segregated litterbins have been used increasingly in China to separate recyclable and non-recyclable rubbish.
There are differences in culture, education, and even the understanding of nature. Like all of us, people in China like to live in a clean environment, with clean air and water. But it will take time to motivate the people to become more green.
Poor environmental laws and inefficient administrative mechanisms fail to protect the environment and do not do enough to discourage polluters in the face of increases in GDP.
b. Restraints by limited resources
China accounts for more than one-fifth of the world’s population, but its GDP is 13% of the world total. The country’s further economic development is inevitable. But China’s shortage of resources is restraining its growth.
Here I’d like to focus on water and energy supply in China.
There is a shortage of both. But water supply and water pollution are of greatest concern.
a) Half of the water in China’s seven largest rivers is completely useless. About 400 out of 600 cities in China are short of water.
China is cooperating with bordering countries in developing joint hydro-electric projects. However disagreements persist between China and countries such as India and Kazakhstan over the exploitation of shared water resources.
b) Poor energy structure / Three Gorges Dam.
In 2006 China’s GDP rose by 10.7 percent, with energy consumption rising 9.3%.
China is the world’s largest coal producer and consumer. And coal accounts for 70% of the country’s energy consumption. The country is in dire need of improving its energy structure, but it may take a long time to achieve.
China has been encouraged to seek alternative energy sources to replace coal and to reduce coal’s share in the energy mix to 40% by 2030.
The country has set a target of increasing the use of renewable energy to 10% of energy consumption by 2010, and up to 15% by 2020, from 3 percent in 2003.
It is estimated that by 2050, solar energy will account for 10% of electricity generated in China.
Hydro-electricity will be a priority for a green China. So far, China has only developed one-third of its water resources for generating electricity, less than half the proportion of developed countries.
But these developments also draw strong criticism from the West. The Three Gorges Project, the world’s largest hydro-electric installation, has been heavily criticized by the western media for its ecological impact. Only recently, the Chinese press highlighted government concerns with the ecological impact the dam poses..
So the country is at the crossroads between balancing the demand for development and ecological protection.
4. Negative impacts of globalization.
Globalization is part of the reason for China’s worsening environment.
“Made-in-China” is now a commonplace. My British family members are always very excited whenever they come across an old product with the tag “Made-in-England”.
But whilst China is proud of being a world factory there is now increased concern that the “Made in China” label brings not only economic strength, but also damage to China’s ecology.
China has risen to the 3rd largest trading country in the world.
In 2006, China’s involvement in the processing of imported raw materials accounted for nearly half of China’s import and export total. This 2006 figure is more than 300 times the level in 1981.
Cheap labour and resources are often mentioned as factors in attracting overseas investment. But if China were to impose the same high standards of environmental protection, then many foreign companies might find that it was not cost effective to invest in China. In other words, Western countries are taking advantage of a lack of strict environmental laws.
Today, over 70% of overseas investment in China is involved in the manufacturing industry.
This year, about 100 overseas-funded companies have been blacklisted for their poor environment record. They include the big companies like Pepsi, Nestle, General Motors and Carlsberg.
Facts have shown that in areas where foreign companies are located -- cities like Shanghai, and especially Guangdong Province -- air and water pollution has significantly increased.
Former Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing once said that pollution in China was partly due to international economic and trade divisions in the country. China remains one of the developing countries most affected by climate change.
Huguette Labelle, former president of the Canadian International Development Agency, once said that under the current international economic and trade system, China is not only the biggest user of resources but also the largest victim of self-inflicted pollution.
In order to reduce the number of companies using China as a dumping ground for pollution-creating industries, stricter policies are being considered, which would impose higher taxes and tariffs on exports of high-energy-consuming and pollution-causing items.
China imports a large amount of waste, including solid, electronic and medical waste. And the quantities increase annually. Processing these imports is creating a devastating effect on people’s health as well the environment as a whole.
China is only able to deal with 20% of its own waste, so for the country to take on the rest of the world’s garbage severely exacerbates the problem.
By 2020, China’s ‘fast-speed urbanization’ will increase its annual waste to more than 400 million tonnes.
China may soon be submerged by a mountain of its own rubbish.
Earlier this year, both British and Chinese media reported on UK rubbish exports to China. It shows a typical case of the environment-unfriendly side of world trade.
The UK produces more than 30 million tonnes of recyclable rubbish every year, 6% of which is shipped to China.
As such, China is rapidly becoming Britain's biggest rubbish dump.
Annually, China’s exports to the UK total £16 billion pounds.
In return, the UK ships 1.9 million tonnes of waste to China, up more than 160 times the figure of eight years ago.
The UK’s former Environment Minister Ben Bradshaw, has defended this “fair” trade, saying that it would be wasteful for ships bringing imports from China to return empty.
It is not good to our environment when we can only choose from imported products in our supermarkets. It is astonishing to see items shipped half way around the globe when they could be produced domestically.
UK-based New Economics Foundation Policy Director Andrew Simms told BBC last Friday (Oct. 5, 2007) that "Every time we hear a government minister talking about climate change, they seem to be drawn towards scapegoating China and its rising emissions."
He said: "But a big factor in that rise is that China has become the major factory for the western world, so their greenhouse gas emissions are largely driven by higher levels of consumption in the west."
Two years ago, US researchers calculated that 14% of China's CO2 emissions were accounted for by exports to the US.
So besides domestic will, a rational global economic and trade system should be formed to optimize the use of our natural resources and make it possible for global sustainable development.
5. Climate change is a global crisis, calling for a global solution.
Today, we should not doubt about global warming anymore. The evidence is clear that the global climate is changing. This year, we have seen millions of people in China, India and Bangladesh affected by floods. In Kenya we have seen major mudslides brought about by torrential rain.
We have also seen the worst summer for 30 years in France, devastating floods in the UK, a heat wave in the US (with temperatures soaring above 30 degrees Celsius), and typhoons sweeping Mexico and southeast Asia.
All these events have sent a signal that climate change is already at our doorstep. It is no longer something which may happen in the future, the effects of climate change are already being felt.
The tit-for-tat argument between developed and developing nations about who should take the lead to cut emissions has got to stop.
All countries, rich or poor, have to make their own changes towards a more sustainable society.
The West must lead by example to show the world how to tackle environmental issues.
UK Conservative leader David Cameron addressed the party's 2007 conference last week (Oct. 3) and said that those who say Britain should do nothing because of China’s shortcomings were wrong. He asked, “How will we be able to encourage China to act unless we act here at home?
The Chinese Government has maintained that all countries must take actions, with different but fair share of responsibilities to tackle global warming. Developing countries need to cut emissions and increase energy efficiency, while developed countries should try to decrease their per capita energy consumption and individual carbon footprint.
6. Conclusion:
The economic status among the population of China is changing rapidly. This has resulted in the increase of cars on China’s roads, rising consumption of consumer products and the surge of domestic flights. Meanwhile as China opens up to the world, it has led to a huge influx of tourists from all over the world.
We are not going to change people’s demand for cars, a wish to travel, and a desire to consume. And our living standards need not be lowered in order to be respectful to the earth.
However, it is the responsibility of governments, businesses and individuals to safeguard this planet.
Governments have the most important role to play in this regard, to change production methods and energy generation to more environmental-friendly solutions, and implement greener policies.
As individuals, we should be aware of our carbon footprints. We need to reduce our consumption, move towards a greener lifestyle and increase our responsibility towards our surroundings.
Copyright Dongying Wang 2007
For reproduction of this study, please email: wdy21century@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment